The 338-foot railroad carferry SS Milwaukee was launched as the Manistique, Marquette and Northern #1 in 1903. She was designed by the famed marine architect Robert Logan and built in Cleveland by the American Shipbuilding Company. Acquired by the Grand Trunk Railroad in 1908, the Milwaukee shuttled freight cars between her namesake city and Grand Haven, Mich. Shipping freight cars across Lake Michigan bypassed the chokepoint of Chicago, sparing railroads time and expense. Carferries were the only ships on the Great Lakes built to operate year-round, and their crews were admired by vessel operators the world over for their rugged efficiency. Powered by twin steam engines, the SS Milwaukee could carry 25 to 30 loaded boxcars in her cavernous hold. She served her owners faithfully until October 29, 1929, when she departed Milwaukee harbor into the teeth of a ferocious nor'easter. She and her crew of 40 to 50 never reached their destination. Five days later, a note washed ashore near Grand Haven, Mich. The SS Milwaukee now rests in 125 feet of water four miles east of Whitefish Bay with her bow facing southwest, confirming the ship had turned back towards Milwaukee harbor, exposing her low stern to the worst of the tremendous seas reported in the purser's note. Stripped of her upperworks, the wreck is a tangle of exploded deck gear, hull plates, and rail cars. The damaged sea gate (a four-foot-high barrier designed to prevent a following sea from swamping the car deck) hangs wrenched from the stern, twisted in a crude 'W' shape.